Brews News: Forked River fiddles with fruit flavours

If you’re a water-barley-malt kind of beer person who boogies like it’s 1516, this, bud, is not for you.

Don’t get me wrong. The authors of the Reinheitsgebot or German Beer Purity Law knew what they were doing 500 years ago by defining what makes good beer and protecting the public from inferior beverages. The German Purity Law was the mother of all food and beverage regulations, written at a time when consumer protection laws weren’t yet imagined.

If you’re a bierernst, deadly serious about your beer, you’ll accept nothing but those three ingredients in your beer.

If you’re a craft beer voyageur or brewmaster, maybe not so much.

Many of the most interesting and flavourful craft beers include flavourful ingredients that would make German lawmakers of 500 years ago cringe.

One of the Ontario breweries at the forefront of flavour fiddling is the five-year-old Forked River Brewing Company in London’s Pacific Court industrial park.

“We’ve been getting into doing lots of beer with fruit, as you may have noticed,” Forked River co-founder Andrew Peters said in an email. “Many have been in conjunction with Heeman’s (a local grower), but some of the more tart flavours need a different type of fruit.”

A small batch beer I wrote about last week, Key Lime Flashback, is one product of the experimentation. It had a coming out party at the London Wine & Food Show and is also available as a brewery-exclusive, gone-in-a-wink gem. A flavour variation of Forked River’s popular Mojo wheat beer, Key Lime is the January diversion you’ve been craving.

But Forked River didn’t stop there.

Monsieur Ananas is a pineapple kettle sour and Stranger Ranger, a sour India pale ale, is a citrusy experience guaranteed to lift spirits on a wintry day in Southwestern Ontario if for no other reason than it’s a hefty 6.5 per cent alcohol.

“Stranger Ranger (is) not exactly a fruit beer on its own, but the sour IPA has so much citrusy flavour and tartness that it can easily pass for one,” Peters said.

The family tree begins with Forked River’s Queen’s Ranger, a double IPA. The brewers blended it with a kettle sour to create a 45 IBU beer with 6.5 per cent alcohol. by comparison, Queen’s Ranger, when available, has an IBU of 100, which cries out for a glass of water chaser, and ABV of nine per cent.

Monsieur Ananas, which Forked River whimsically suggests pairing with a moustache and monocle, uses 150 pounds of pineapple puree. This accounts for that smack of Costa Rica in every careful sip of a beer that hops forgot. While its 4.5 per cent alcohol content won’t be a barrier to having another, its flavour profile might be. At first blush, I thought this would be a one and done for me, but I found it highly drinkable and refreshing with a playful assault on the tip of my tongue.

Not to be forgotten is For Forked Shake Strawberry Daiquiri Edition. They used strawberry and lime puree for this, the second edition of Forked River’s milkshake IPA series. Let’s hope this is around for Valentine’s Day, because its strawberry flavour makes it a fun Feb. 14 beverage choice.

For Forked Shake Strawberry Daiquiri, Monsieur Ananas, Stranger Ranger, and Key Lime Flashback are each available in 473 ml cans.

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If fruit in beer doesn’t send heads spinning, how about herbs?

Gruit (German for herb) is a medieval beer style that uses blends of herbs instead of hops to provide bitterness. Its rebirth is celebrated by a handful of North American breweries, most notably Beau’s All Natural in Ontario.

Feb. 1 is International Gruit Day and to celebrate some 60 breweries from nine nations will be releasing, brewing, or showcasing gruits. In Beau’s case, it will be Lamb’s Wool, made with yarrow, cinnamon, cloves and unfiltered apple juice. Watch for it on tap at your favourite craft-friendly pub or do a wintry trek to Vankleek Hill.

Social media types worldwide raising a glass of gruit on Feb. 1 will be sharing their love of the style with the hashtag #GruitDay.